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  <title>Description of the Canons of Theodore</title>
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   <div id="main">
     <div id="header"><h2 style="margin-right: 1.5em;">Description of the <span
style="font-style: italic;">Canons of Theodore</span> & indices </h2> </div>
     <div id="text">

       <P>
       <TABLE border="1"><tr><td>
       <font face="arial" size="+1">
       <a href="char4cth.html">Table 1</a>: an index of chapters. <br/>
       <a href="char5cth.html">Table 2</a>: canon finder; the canon numbers are links manuscripts.<br/>
       <a href="char3cth.html">Table 3</a>: lists Latin sources and/or parallels for the <u>Canons of Theodore</u> and the <u>Scriftboc</u>. 
   </td></tr></TABLE></p><p>
       
       Following a guide to the text's <a href="txhdcth.html#form">form and content</a>, you will find a list of <a href="txhdcth.html#manuscripts">manuscripts</a>, a discussion of <a href="
       txhdcth.html#date">date and sources</a>, and a <a href="txhdcth.html#bib">bibliography</a>.
           </p><br/>



      <h3 style="font-size: 20pt; color: #626C9B; font-weight: bold; position: relative; top: -1em; letter-spacing: .10em; width: 100%; border-bottom: double 3px #626C9B; "><a name="Form">Form and Content</a></h3>
      <P><font face="arial" size="+1">

</p>
      <P>


        The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons of Theodore</span> 
     (abbreviated 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span>) 
     is a loosely structured penitential. It differs from the other penitentials in this database in
three ways. First, its canons are not organized into chapters or books, as are those of the other
texts. Second,
its contents are drawn entirely from the Latin 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Penitential</span> 
     of Theodore and its variants; the other handbooks have more diverse
sources. Third, the prefatory material in 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons of Theodore</span> 
     is unusual. </p>
<p>

In place of introductory material describing the ritual of confession (e.g., the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">OE Introduction</span> 
     for the priest's use in receiving the penitent in confession), the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     begins with an account of a synod convened by Pope Gregory II held in 721. Rendered 
     as a dialogue, this account expresses Gregory's dismay at the immorality of the Italian
people, including marriage 
     of nuns and within degrees of blood relation forbidden by the Church. Gregory speaks and
the bishops respond.
     <note type="textual">Such a textual form might have been seen as more authoritative
than a simple report the synod's proceedings and suggests not 
       only something of the character of synods but also that of subsequent contexts in which
synodal proceedings were promulgated. The use of direct 
       speech in accounts of synods is found in other genres&mdash;for example, letters by
Boniface, and Bede's 
       <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ecclesiastical History</span> 
       (Book IV, ch. 5; see Cubitt, p. 83, notes 26-27).
     </note> 
     Following this account, the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons</span> 
     lists sins and penance for many sins, as do other penitentials. The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons</span> 
     is the least studied of all the Anglo-Saxon penitentials.  Except for fragments from MS S
included by Thorpe in his edition, the text has not been edited since 1830.
      </p>
      <br/>
      
      
       <h3 style="font-size: 20pt; color: #626C9B; font-weight: bold; position: relative; top: -1em; letter-spacing: .10em; width: 100%; border-bottom: double 3px #626C9B; "><a name="manuscripts">Manuscripts</a></h3>
       <p>
         There are two manuscripts of the 
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons of Theodore</span> 
      and one fragment. MSS BY contain the full text in nearly the same form, although in MS
Y (which is also missing a leaf
      containing part of the text) there are additional canons not found in MS B. MS S contains
only a small number of canons, some 
      of which are not found in either MSS BY. Each entry is followed by its reference in the
catalogues of Ker and Gneuss:
      <ul style="list-style-type: none; padding-left:10px; font-size: 15px;">
        <li>
          <span style="color: red;">B&nbsp;&nbsp; Brussels, Biblioth&egrave;que royale,
8558-63, s. xi&sup1;, southeastern (Ker 10; Gneuss 808);</span>
        </li>
        <li>
          <span style="color: red;">S&nbsp;&nbsp; Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 190,
Part B; s. XI<sup>med</sup>, XI&sup2;, Exeter (Ker 45B, Gneuss 59)</span>
        </li>
        <li>
          <span style="color: red;">Y&nbsp;&nbsp; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 482,
s. xi<sup>med</sup>, Worcester (Ker 343; Gneuss 656).</span>
        </li>
      </ul>
      </p> 
       <br/>
      
      <h3 style="font-size: 20pt; color: #626C9B; font-weight: bold; position: relative; top: -1em; letter-spacing: .10em; width: 100%; border-bottom: double 3px #626C9B; "><a name="date">Dates and Sources</a></h3>
      <p>
        The Anglo-Saxon penitentials must be dated in two ways: on the basis of their sources, and
     on their relationships to each other. The Latin sources of the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     are early eighth century (the date of the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Penitential of Theodore</span>), 
     but the Old English text, on linguistic grounds alone, cannot be dated before the tenth
century. The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     can be said to be as early as the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span>, 
     which also depends heavily on 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span>
     (in addition to Bede-Egbert materials that are not found in 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span>).  
     Like the
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span>, 
     the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     is clearly earlier than the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">OE Penitential</span>, 
     the fourth book of which borrows from the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span>. 
     It is probable that the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     and 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
     both were written sometime in the first half of the tenth century, although the second half
is more likely. 
      </p>
      <p>
        The lack of prefatory material in 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     might be further evidence of a date earlier than the other texts. The manuscript traditon of
the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span>
     shows that it, too, originally lacked such material, which was added to it later, possibly the
by author of the
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">OEP</span>.
     Such material seems to have been developed as the tradition of these texts matured in the
Anglo-Saxon period. Finally, the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     is found complete in just two manuscripts. All other penitentials are found in three or more--the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> in three, the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">OE Penitential</span> 
     in the same three and (partially) in another, and the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">OE Handbook</span> (again, partially) in six. 
      </p>
      <p>
        The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     and the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
     might well be contemporary collections, based on the same materials.  Where the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
     and the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     translate the same material, they do so very differently, suggesting that the translator of
the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     either did not know or did not use the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
     (or vice versa). However, the compiler of MS Y, the only one of three manuscripts of the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
     that also contains the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CT</span>, 
     took for granted the usefulness of both texts and made no effort to conflate them.
      </p>
      <p>
        A word about the sources of the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons of Theodore</span> 
     is in order. The text is drawn form two versions of the
     penitential texts attributed to Theodore. The first is one known as the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Capitula Dachriana</span>, 
     abbreviated 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;"> CD</span>, 
     a penitential that some think might have circulated before Theodore died. The other is the two-book penitential
which was 
     constructed by the scribe known as the "Discipulus Umbrensis," who organized the
sayings of Theodore 
     into two books.  This text is accepted as the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Penitential</span> 
     of Theodore (
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span>; 
     it is edited by Haddan and Stubbs, who explain how it corresponds to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">CD</span>; it is translated
by McNeill and Gamer). The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span>
     is much more heavily indebted to the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span>) 
     but draws some provisions from the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CD</span>. 
     The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     shows no sign of non-Theodoran documents, such as the penitentials attributed to Egbert
or Bede, or later (ninth-century) continental handbooks.
      </p>
      <p>
        The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     represents a rewriting of the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span>, 
     as we see in the fact that the materials widely separated in 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     are joined in 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span>. 
     For example, 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     2.8.1-2 and 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     1.11.1 both concern the observance of Sunday; 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     puts these sections into a sequence (62.01.01-62.03.01).      <span style="font-weight:
bold;">PT</span> 
     2.8.7 and 2.11.7 concern the use of animals that eat carrion; 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span>
     put these chapters into a sequence (64.02.01-64.03.01). 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     2.12.26-27 concern consanguinity and 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 1.14.2-3 concern irregularities in marriage;
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     arranges these materials sequentially (65.01.01-65.03.01). However, the
     reorganization of this material in
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     seems to reflect the previous reorganization of the Latin material in 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CD</span>, 
     where all these patterns are found. For example:
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     1.10, 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     2.8, and 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span>
     1.11 are joined in 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CD</span> 
     9, 11-13, and 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     2.8, 2.11 are combined in
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CD</span> 
     19. 
      </p>
      <p>
        The OE translator of the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     might have had access of to both 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span>
     and 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CD</span> 
     or to a version of 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     that has not survived. The close correspondence of 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     to the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     is unusual. In comparison, the quotations from the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     in the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
     are very scattered rather than sequential. The 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
     includes more of 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     than the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
     and sometimes presents the Latin material in a translation that follows the order of the
Latin closely; the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span>'s 
     rendering of 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     translates the Latin less closely and does not follow the order of the 
     <span style="font-weight: bold;">PT</span> 
     as regularly.
      </p>
      
<p>
         We can compare the 
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
      to the penitential known as the
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
      to see how these two texts render the same Latin source.
       </p>
       <p>
         <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons of Theodore</span> 
         B65.02.02 reads:
         <dir>
           &thorn;onne gif wer &thorn;riwa wifa&eth; o&eth;&eth;e wif &thorn;riwa ceorla&eth;,
        o&eth;&eth;e gyt ma, f&aelig;ste IV ger and &thorn;a hwile &thorn;e he lifige,
f&aelig;ste
        Wodnesdagum and Frigdagum and &thorn;a &thorn;reo &aelig;f&aelig;stenu forga
fl&aelig;sc;
        and ne syn hi na &thorn;eah ged&aelig;lde, gif hi on rihtgesinscipe gegaderode syn.
</br>
If a man is married three times, or a woman (weds a man
three times), or even more times, they must fast for 4 years and, as long as they live, they must
fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and during the other fasting periods forgo meat. And
nevertheless they are not to be separated if they are united in a proper marriage.   
      </dir>
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
      X09.04.0 reads:
      <dir>
        &thorn;riddan wifes ceorl f&aelig;ste heora &aelig;g&eth;er twegen dagas on wocan
and
        &eth;reo &aelig;festenu fl&aelig;sces &thorn;&aelig;t hi nan ne etan.
</br>
 If a man has a third wife, both of them must fast two days
each week, and during the 3 40-day fasting periods neither one of them may eat meat.
      </dir>
      Both translate the 
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Penitential of Theodore</span> 
      1.14.3:
      <dir>
        Trigamus et supra, id est, in quarto aut quinto vel plus, VII annos IIII feria et in VI; et in
        tribus XLmis abstineat se a carnibus; non separentur tamen. Basilius hoc judicavit; in
canone autem IIII annos peniteat.
      </dir>
       </p>
      <p>
        This is but one of several sections in which the author of the 
        <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
        translated material both more clearly and more fully that the author of the 
        <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span>. 
        Accuracy and completeness in translation is not evidence for dating the text in any but an
evolutionist
        paradigm (that is, there is no reason why a later translation is necessarily better than one
done at
        an earlier period). But in this and other cases it appears that the translator of the
        <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> 
        loosely paraphrased material rather than translated it fully and sometimes misunderstood it.
</p>

<p><a href="char3sbc.html">Table 3</a> elaborates on the sources of
the <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> in relation to those of the <span
style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span>. The text of the probable Latin
sources of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scriftboc</span> are given in the text header for
that text; much of that material, drawn from the <span style="font-weight:
bold;">Penitential</span> of Theodore, also serves as sources for the <span style="font-weight:
bold;">CTH</span>.
       </p> 

<br/>
      
       <h3 style="font-size: 20pt; color: #626C9B; font-weight: bold; position: relative; top: -1em; letter-spacing: .10em; width: 100%; border-bottom: double 3px #626C9B; ">Manuscript tables</h3>
       <p>
         Here are tables that give an overview of how the 
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">CTH</span> 
      is arranged in each manuscript version.


<a href="char4cth.html">Table 1</a> is an index of chapters. <a href="char5cth.html">Table 2</a>, more detailed, is an index of chapters by manuscript. 
</p>

     <p>
       The texts of the 
       <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons of Theodore</span> 
       are closely parallel in MS BY; the 
       <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons of Theodore, Supplement</span>, 
       is the name given to the extracts in MS S (extracts, it should be noted, from a version
different from that found in the other two MSS).
     </p> 
     <br/>
    <div id="header" style="border-top: double 3px lightyellow;"><h2 style="margin-right:
1.5em;"><a name="bib">Bibliography</a></h2></div>
    <div id="text">
    <br/>


    </div>


    <h3 style="font-size: 20pt; color: #626C9B; font-weight: bold; position: relative; top: -1em; letter-spacing: .10em; width: 100%; border-bottom: double 3px #626C9B; ">Editions</h3>
    <dir>
      Mone, F. J., ed.  
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte der teutschen
Literatur und Sprache</span>.
      1830.  An edition of the 
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canons</span> 
      from MS B, part of an edition of the entire MS from fol. 132-153 (Mone pp. 501-47).
    </dir>
    <dir>
      Thorpe, Benjamin.  
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ancient Laws and Institutes of England.</span>  
      2 vols. London, 1840.  An edition of MS S, pp. 414-16 (Thorpe 2:228-30).
    </dir>
    <br/>
    <br/>
    <h3 style="font-size: 20pt; color: #626C9B; font-weight: bold; position: relative; top: -1em; letter-spacing: .10em; width: 100%; border-bottom: double 3px #626C9B; ">Commentaries</h3>    
    <dir>
      Berbner, Walther. 
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sprache und Heimat des ae 'Scriftboc' im MS Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge 190</span>.
      Bonn, 1907.
    </dir>
    <dir>
      Cubitt, Catherine. 
      <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anglo-Saxon Church Councils c. 650-c. 850</span> 
      London: Leicester University Press, 1995; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.
    </dir> 
    </dir>
       </div>
     </div>
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</table>
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